Photos of religious gathering shared as crowd at Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra in Rajasthan

Hyderabad: Social media users are sharing two photos of huge gatherings with the claim that they show the crowd at the Congress party's Bharat Jodo Yatra in Rajasthan.

A Facebook user shared the photo and wrote, "A huge crowd gathered to welcome the future of India, Mr. Rahul Gandhi, at Chanwali in Jhalawar district of Rajasthan. The whole of Rajasthan is with Mr. Rahul Gandhi in this fight to eradicate hatred and build a better India with love and brotherhood." (Translated)

Twitter users also shared the photos with the same claim. Click here, here and here to see the posts.

Fact Check

NewsMeter performed a reverse image search and found several photos posted by a Facebook user, Pankaj Maharaj, on 3 December. One of the photos is identical to the viral photo. According to the post, the photo shows a mass gathering at Pujya Dada Guru Maharaj's programme held on 3 December 2022 at Jai Gurudev Ashram in Mathura, UP.

We also found the other viral photo tweeted by Pankaj Maharaj on 3 December.

Further, we checked the schedule of the Bharat Jodo Yatra and found that the Rahul Gandhi-led walkathon reached Chanwali in the Jhalawar district of Rajasthan on 4 December. Media reports also confirm the same.

Finally, NewsMeter reached out to Babu Ram Yadav, the general secretary of Jai Gurudev Ashram, who said that the images are from a programme of Pujya Dada Guru Maharaj organised by the Ashram on 3 December.

It is evident that the viral photos have been on the internet since 3 December, while the Bharat Jodo Yatra reached Rajasthan only on 4 December. Hence, the claim is false.